Wednesday, January 9, 2008

As I posted in the comments to the last thread, I did lose my old mare, Tostada, with the heart murmur today. She had a 2 PM vet appointment, but decided to avoid all the things she disliked, i.e. vets and needles, by having an 8 AM heart attack. RIP old girl - I am not at all surprised that you dictated how things would go right to the end. Typical Thoroughbred!

Now we are left with a dilemma. Tostada was the only horse in our possession alpha enough to turn out with Maggie, and Maggie is not capable of being alone because she's a silly red TB mare and she will die if she does not have companionship at all times. However, she will be mean and chase companionship that does not meet her standards. She just doesn't fit in with the rest of the farm's residents, and I need to find her a home sooner than later.

Maggie is a sound, well broke 21 year old TB mare with an illegible tattoo (at least we haven't had any luck reading it). She is fine for an intermediate rider with good hands. The hands are key - she will not tolerate being clutched on. We upgraded her from a place that had, um, interesting theories about how often hoof care, dental care and barn cleaning were needed. (She had horrific ulcers in her mouth - all fixed now). I've ridden her near a busy road and she had no reaction. She rides English or Western but obviously is more of an English horse (but will tolerate a big ol' roping saddle for trail rides...that is what I had to test drive her in). She has nice collection and just needs a rider with hands she can trust to become consistent with her head. No buck, no rear, no bolt...a bit of a spook but she does not whirl or duck, she merely hesitates/stops and needs your confident legs to tell her to go forward and pass the scary thing. Good ground manners, loads, ties, cross ties, no vices, and not a hard keeper. No special needs. Very good feet - no apparent need for shoes. Unless you were going to trail ride her on rough footing, I wouldn't worry about it.

I really need to place this mare as her friend is dead and there's no other herd at our house she can fit in without causing drama. She does fine turned out with other alpha/middle of the herd horses but is not a fit with old, crippled rescues. We will give her away on gift contract after checking your references and a site check. The obvious rules apply - if your farm would fit right in on this blog, don't even try. She is NOT breeding quality AT ALL. I think of her as an ideal sort of mare for a woman who is a good rider but is past the point of wanting to ride the crazies or jump big stuff (she can jump, but at her age and with her confo, I would not push her over the 2 - 2'6 range), but I can think of other niches for her as well.

I am 400 behind on e-mail so just leave me a note in the comments with your e-mail if you might be interested. We can deliver within a reasonable distance of Seattle or arrange transportation. She's an hour south of Seattle at present.

See pic on left? NOT BREEDING QUALITY :-) Man, look at those legs. Yeeek. However, she is very sweet and has a lot of good years of riding left in her, so let me know if you might be or know that perfect person for her!

About Me

My e-mail is resqtb@yahoo.com and I am usually way behind on e-mail, so don't be offended if you do not get a response right away. I do not have time to do analyses of your horse - sorry. The best way to get my attention is to post to the comments section of the blog. Thank you!